Damn! Deadlift time.

Welp, been crazy busy locking in Halevy Life’s brand new 6,000 square foot location at 212 East 57th Street…just 100 feet away from Whole Foods. The place is sick: it’s a bi-level ground floor space with 17 foot ceilings, marble floors…absolutely beautiful. So there’s that. And I’ve also been focused on driving my deadlift up to the 600lb mark. I just pulled 545 today, and had it been a competition, probably could’ve eked out 555.

So what has been my trick to ramping that number up from around 515 in May? Three things: heavy sub-maximal work at least once/week; deficits (from 2″); rack pulls; and back squatting three times per week. Did I just say squatting three times a week!? Yes. And relatively heavy — talking 3-5rep range for 1-3 sets. Not exactly Smolov, but Smolov inspired.

My first 6-week training block had some pretty heavy rack pulls after pulling from the floor (starting at the deadlift work weight for that day), followed by a single work set of 3-5 reps on the squat. Three days later I added a set of the same reps at the same weight, and the day after (YES, THE DAY AFTER), I added either one more work set OR took the weight up and/or reps up (same weight) or down (heavier weight).

The frequent squatting continued into my second 6-week period, but rack pulls were replaced by deficits after pulls from the floor.

I’ve got a USAPL meet in October, right around our Halevy Life’s new location opening, so the next six-week block will be key. (And I’ll try not to disappear for so long again!)